Srinagar, Nov 22: 98.3 Radio Mirchi organised Saal of the Year, as a part of its month long campaign, Saal pe Malaal. The fundamental idea of the campaign was to highlight the ‘malaal’ culture in Kashmiri festivities, especially weddings.
Mirchi took a satirical route to highlight this bane that exists so deeply in our society. The Saal was a two day event, with the traditional Maenzraat (mehendi) and Yenivol (baraat) being the themes for the days. The mehendi took place in Gani Sons, with all the traditional rituals in place.
Similarly, the second day i.e., the yenivol that took place in The Heritage, started with samovar kahwe and mithhe cxott (confectionery) as a symbol of the sweet beginnings in the context of marriages.
Team Mirchi aimed at sending invites with wrong spellings and mistakes, the idea being for people to ignore such little details and focus on the efforts of the hosts. This humorous approach was to create an example that there can be a saal (festivity) without malaal, that if we as a society will, we can grow over these little mishaps and be the wiser ones.
Mirchi Team also undertook a journey to Kulgam’s Srandoo village, which was recently in news for taking a pledge to limit wedding expenses. The whole village under the Auqaf committee has decided to shun the extravagant wedding customs, which organically will lead to lesser ‘malaal-daari’. The aim of the coverage was to bring the voice of this Kulgam village to the whole of Kashmir.
Furthermore, Team Mirchi also hosted poetess Prof. Naseem Shafaie; a Sahitya Akademi award winner who spoke about the cultural background, traditional values, and community building associated with Kashmiri weddings.
RJ Mehak said that if people did not fuss over a smaller number of dishes or limited guests , weddings would be a much happier affair. Things have to change with collective effort. The idea was to put the message forward to create an impact.
